Special thanks to the following individuals from the Coast Defense Study Group (past and present) for providing technical assistance and additional historical details and material: Nelson Lawry, Ed Robinson, Robert Zink, Gerald Butler, Bolling Smith, Joel Eastman, Dale Manuel, William Gaines, Glen Williford, John Martini, and Mark Berhow;

Gene McManus and Tom Page from the Online Air Defense Radar Museum (Radomes.org) for info on the Rye Air Force Station;

Thomas Kehr, past President, New Hampshire Society Sons of the Revolution, for research materials on Fort William and Mary;

Sheila McDonald, Historian, Maine State Parks; Jim Chase, past Special Projects Director, Seacoast Science Center; George Armstrong, Odiorne Point State Park; Elaine Peverly, Kittery Naval and Historical Museum; J. Dennis Robinson, editor, SeacoastNH.com; the staffs at the Portsmouth Public Library and the New Castle Public Library; the Garabedian family of Hampton Beach, owners of the Great Boars Head tower; and Rich Rouleau, Project Manager, Marine Research Facility, University of New Hampshire.

Also special thanks to Ron Hope, of Kinston, NC, for allowing the use of his father's (Norman Hope) wartime memoirs and photographs from "Waiting for the Enemy: Memoirs of a World War II Soldier Serving in Wartime New England and Europe"; to Bernard Keenan Jr. for allowing use of his father's (Bernard Keenan Sr.) pre-war photographs of Fort Stark; to Steve Gerritson, of Bothell, WA, for the post-war photo of the Kennebunk Beach tower; and to Jon Woolf, of Manchester, NH, for helping to scan several WWII-era defense charts from my collection.

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All other images displayed on this website, unless otherwise indicated, are the sole property of American Forts Network, and may not be used for commercial purposes without express permission from American Forts Network or the indicated owner.

This is the same site that was once hosted on Geocities.com
as "www.PortsmouthForts.com"
until Yahoo! pulled the plug in October 2009.
Nothing else has changed.

The history of the military defenses of Portsmouth, England, the namesake city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.